Lost and Found
by Little Tsu
Summary: Akainu had been about to deal a lethal blow to Luffy & as the protective older brother, Ace had rush in to take the blow for him, thus sacrifising his life for his little brother. However,...what if Ace never took the blow, but was instead, saved himself...? (Companion piece in a very loose sense ta my other One Piece fics. Version where Ace doesn' die.)


_Little Tsu: Ok ok. This is another One Piece one-shot that I thought of. I've seen a few variations of the battle at Navy HQ. That's all I'mma say since this is my piece. Ta get a better understanding of my OC, Pheonix and what she looks like in this though, please please PLEASE read the other three One Piece onefers that I have up first._

**Lost and Found**

_**{Ace's POV}**_

Flames that were both my own and not were scattered all over the expansive battlefield at Marineford. Not only had my own entire crew and all of its Divisions had arrived to my rescue, but to my surprise a bunch of pirates that I didn't know or had only heard of had come to aid in the battle as well; the biggest surprise being in the form of my reckless little brother and even more reckless little firecracker of a girl that had for some time caught my attention. With myself having been freed of those damned sea prism stone cuffs, I literally allowed myself to give these Navy dogs a taste of what real fire and pain was like. With having been in those cuffs for what felt like forever, it felt pretty damn amazing to feel the heat of my flames course through and around me again.

As the battle for survival continued to rage on from both sides, it was obvious that the victory of this battle could go either way when some of the Shichibukai had stepped into the fight along with the Admirals. A lot of casualties had happened on both our ends already and if I were to be honest with myself, the fight didn't look like it had any end in sight. I still needed to get out of here though. I had to keep my promise to Luffy that I would make it out of this alive with him. We **all** had to escape. However, as I was fighting my way through the soldiers, I caught movement out of the corners of my eyes. When I looked in that direction, my heart skipped a beat or two as I saw Admiral Akainu coming up on my little brother from behind while he was busy with other enemies. Clenching my teeth tightly, I quickly used my flames to engulf myself as I rush through the air to get to him in time. I couldn't let Luffy die no matter what the cost may be towards myself.

Arriving just in time, I turned my back to Akainu and stretched out my arms that were still licked with flames at my sides; my stance firm as I readied myself to take the attack that would ultimately take my life with it. However, as I waited, the blow never came. Straightening up slightly, I turned my head to glance over my shoulder to look behind myself, but when I did, I instantly regretted it. My grey eyes widened in horror as standing there with their back to me and their blue grey hair shifting in the slight wind that blew around us was the very girl that I never wanted to see get hurt. Their small gloved hands had a grasp onto the part of the arm that wasn't lava as if to hold Akainu in place or stop his attack. However, they had still used their small form as a shield as blood dripped to the ground below them despite the black flames that continued to lick along portions of their body due to their Black Flame Flame Fruit. It was the sight of that blood that finally gave me my voice. "Pheonix!"

Akainu scoffed as he realized what had happened and yanked his arm out of her grasp, which in turn pulled his fist out of her stomach. When he had though, he went to deal the finishing blow, but others had rushed in and knocked him away; taking his attention away from us. When they had though, my gaze quickly returned to the small pirate before me as her body suddenly collapsed to their knees and would have toppled over if not for me catching her in my arms. Kneeling at her side, I craddled her back against my chest and stomach while one arm was wrapped around her to keep her steady and my other hand brushed her bangs out of her face that had been dirtied from the war. Drifting my gaze down to her wound, I honestly thought my heart had actually stopped right then and there. A seared hole was in her stomach from the lava for using herself as a shield, but from the looks of it, the fist hadn't gone all the way through. Shaking my head roughly to push away the sudden thoughts of her dieing out of my mind, I narrowed my eyes frustratedly at her when my gaze returned to her face. "Damn it Pheonix; just what the hell were you thinking?!"

Chuckling weakly towards what I said, which I didn't see what the hell was so funny, I panicked slightly when those chuckles turned into bloody coughs that wracked through her form. When she finally calmed back down, she seemed to settle herself to lean back more comfortably against me. The pained, yet still at peace expression on her features silently told me that she was still happy about the outcome of what happened to her. Why the hell would she be happy about practically signing over her death warrent?! "You..."

...What?

"I...I did it...for you..." Smiling weakly up at me, I couldn't help but be stunned by what she said. However, before I could speak or even hope to scold her on how stupid she was to have done it anyways, she continued to speak. "I know how...much Luffy means ta you. I...I also saw you...I saw you rushin' in ta what woulda been y-your death. I...I couldn'...l-let you jus'...throw it away like that. Your brother...needs you Ace..." As she began to cough up more blood again, I held her all the more closely to the point where I had now buried her head into the crook of my neck. I couldn't have care less if I got any damn blood on me...The only thing I hated about it was that it was **her **blood...

Lifting my hand that wasn't holding her to me, I stroked her hair soothingly; no longer caring about the battle that raged on around us. It didn't matter right now and to be perfectly honest, the sounds of all the yells and fighting had seemed to simply fade away into the background. The only thing I could hear anymore was Pheonix... "You stupid, reckless kid...You always do this. You never think before you act and always rush right into the battle without any regard of your own damn safety. And don't you say that I would've died if you hadn' cause I already know this! I...Damn it...Why...?"

"People do crazy things...when they're in love..."

My eyes shot wide open as I heard those words. It had been very weak and faint, but I had still heard them as if they were whispered directly into my ear. However, it was something that I still had trouble believing and thought I had heard wrong on what she said even though, deep inside, I knew I had heard correctly. "You..You what?" When she didn't answer back, I began to worry and shifted my head to gaze down at her. What I saw though, filled me with sudden dread and panic. Pheonix's eyes were gently closed and a peaceful little smile played onto her features. "Pheonix...? Pheonix, kid, this isn't funny. Pheonix, answer me!" As I tried to wake her up and get her to speak, I was suddenly grabbed from behind and lifted away from her as she slipped to the ground, laying there as if asleep.

At being so easily hoisted up into the air, I knew right away that it was Jinbe that had a hold of me. That isntantly got me struggling, though I didn't use my devil fruit powers to get away since a part of me still didn't wish to hurt the fishman. "Let me go! You're leaving her behind! She's too weakened to defend herself! Pheonix!"

"I'm sorry, but I promised your brother that I would help him get you out of here safely and alive just as I had promised you that I would keep Luffy safe as well." As Jinbe and a battered up Luffy safely made it onto Trafalgar Law's submarine that had appeared in time to help them escape, they managed to quickly get away. However, as they dove underwater to their escape from the battlefield that many others that had survived had fled, Jinbe had finally released me. When he did though, I didn't remain standing as my legs instantly gave out from under me and I sat there on the floor within the submarine that belonged to the Heart Pirates. I still had blood all over me, but the majority of it wasn't even my own. Both Jinbe and Luffy had tried to get my attention or make me gather my wits once more, but none of it worked; not at this moment. Nothing mattered right now at this point in time because as reality began to really dawn on me, the tears finally fell as my head tilted down and my fists clenched against my legs.

Pheonix was really gone...And I would never beable to find her ever again...

_**{Two years later}**_

It had been two years since that day. I managed to pick myself up and eventually push on for the sake of my little brother. It was during those two years that I had decided to actually remain with my little brother and help him to train so he could get stronger. In fact, Luffy had helped me to get stronger as well, in turn. The reuniting between Luffy and his crew was actually rather amusing cause of all the crazy and chaotic antics and all that occurred in the process of it all. However, the sight of the swordsman and cook bickering with each other like children rather than grown men brought a very nostalgic smile onto my features. The bickering and hotheaded tempers reminded me greatly of **her**...I would admit to sometimes jerking awake late at night from nightmares of that day and succumbing to the tears that wanted to fall, but I could also admit that I didn't let it keep me down or utterly break me like it used to at first. I know now that she wouldn't have wanted me to continue living like that.

The travels to Fishman Island and our stay there had definately been eventful. In fact, I sometimes had to wonder if all of my brother's journies before I joined up with him for a while had been this chaotic and...flat out destructive. However, it seemed that everywhere Luffy and his crew went though, they made friends and allies of all kinds along the way. Then again, my reckless little brother always had had knack for drawing people in towards him; giving them the urge to wanna be his friend...She had a bit of that charm to her as well. Especially, towards me as I had later found out before I had saw her last before that terrible battle at Marineford...

Punk Hazard...Where someone got that kind of name for an island that is half frigid ice that'll never melt and half flames and searing heat, I'll never know. Personally, I thought it was a stupid and very unfitting name for the island, but that was just me. What we didn't expect to find on the island was a dragon, a body that was still moving about without a head, and later on Trafalar Law, who had become a Shichibukai since we last saw him two years ago, which comes to now actually. "Never would've thought I'd see the day. Since when did you decide to join the Marines and become a Shichibukai, Law? You hate the Marines."

Trafalgar glanced over at us while his sword rested casually against his shoulder like it usually did when it wasn't in use. Pushing himself off of the wall of the building that they stood before, he closed his eyes gently and shook his head. "I have my reasons Portgas D. Ace. One of the reasons, you'll learn of soon enough if you actually stick around, though I don't see that as a wise idea on your part. Another reason for it though..." Before the older pirate before us could finish speaking, another voice rang out. However, this voice caused a familier clench in my chest as it brought back a wave of memories flooding my head despite the slightly older tone it took on. Slowly turning my head to glance in the direction the voice had come from, my grey eyes instantly widened in disbelief.

Stepping outside as they came from within the building a young girl of seventeen with a portion of her blue grey hair pulled up into a short, high ponytail and the rest of it in a low braid below it that halted a few inches passed her shoulders appeared before them. Her attire was still mostly the same, but the goggles were gone and in its place was what looked like the black version of my hat with the same blue pins except hers were more off to the left on the hat. She also wore a coat similar to what Law was currently wearing due to the frigid climate, though it was actually opened since her body gave off plenty of heat to keep herself warm; revealing the scar on her stomach from Akainu's attack that day. Even her precious sword, the Onyx Youkai, was strapped to her back still where it usually rested. It was only when the girl's eyes suddenly landed on me and I saw their bi-colored sapphire and ruby coloration that I knew it was her even though I could still hardly believe it. Swallowing thickly, my lips finally parted and, after what felt like far too long, her name finally escaped them. "Ph-Pheonix..."

Her eyes only seemed to widen in realization themselves at apparently reconigzing who I was, but I didn't care right now. She was somehow alive and standing right before me. Before I even realized what I was doing, I had quickly closed to distance between us and in the instant of finally reaching her, I threw my arms around the girl; pulling her tightly against me as I held her closely. I hadn't realized that Luffy and the others had walked off to talk and give us some time alone and quite frankly that didn't matter at all. All that I cared about suddenly, right this moment, was right in my arms. Clenching my eyes tightly shut, I buried my face into her soft hair and breathed in her scent as a shudder went right through me. I never thought I'd ever get to feel her in my arms or have her unique scent of orchid blossoms that somehow masked the smokey scent of her Black Flame Flame Fruit again...Yet here she was... "Pheonix...How...? I don't understand. I...I saw you die...You died right in my arms that day during the war of Marineford...Didn't you?"

"I did die...Or at least I was at the brink of it. Ya were the last thing I saw before darkness finally took me. When I came to, it was weeks later after that battle and I was all bandaged up and recovering. I found out that my Uncle, Dracule Mihawk had actually gotten me out of there and saved me. He had actually hunted down Tral soon after he left you guys from what I was told and was brought to where I was to make sure I survived my injuries..." As she quieted down after explaining what had happened after I was forced away from her side that day and then what all happened after with her recovery, I finally pulled away only just enough so that I could get a closer look at her face. She didn't look that much different from two years ago, but she did look a bit more mature and filled out than how I last remembered. Her eyes were locked with my own as they didn't dare try to break away and I could see the emotional pain and lonliness hinted in her gaze that she was able to conceal from probably anyone else but me.

As I studied her though, something clicked within my mind as I remembered something she had said to me before I thought I had lost her. Pulling away as I stepped back and dropped my arms at my sides reluctantly, I softly spoke up, though I hate to admit that I was nervous to ask about it. "Pheonix...About...that battle. What you said that day when you were dieing in my arms...Had you really meant it?"

Realization filled her gaze as she figured out which part I meant and a faint blush colored her cheeks as she glanced down and off to the side, which was an action that made me slightly curious. "I...did...I meant every word Ace...I-I still do..." Now it was my turn to be surprised by this. After two years of being apart and not seeing each other; two years of me thinking Pheonix had died right in my arms, the girl before me still loved me even now. Snapping out of my shock, I suddenly lifted my hands as I cupped both sides of her face, forcing the younger girl to look up at me. However, before she could say anything more, I quickly dove down and crushed my lips against her own in a heated kiss. Yes, I had kissed her twice before from my last encounter with her before my fight with Teach, but this one held every bit of fire and passion that I felt for her and when she slipped her arms around my neck, returning the kiss, it only made me fall deeper into the intensity of it all as my tongue slipped into ther mouth to play with her's.

After a few moments, I finally broke the kiss to allow us some much needed air, but I didn't pull away as my arms had at some point during the kiss slipped down to around her slender waist. With my forehead resting against her own and our hats having fallen backwards to rest against out backs, hanging from around our necks, I couldn't help but laugh a bit breathlessly while my eyes were closed in bliss. "I...had been wanting to do that for over two years...Since the last time I had kissed you..."

"This time though,...I finally got to return it."

Hearing her equally breathless response, my eyes opened as grey clashed instantly with those intense bi-colored sapphire and ruby; the eyes that had first lured me in to begin with...Finally catching my breath, a smile crossed onto my features as I spoke up once more. This time more softly. "Hey Pheonix, ya know something kid?"

The deeper blush that colored her cheeks at me calling her a 'kid' again despite everything had been more than worth it in calling her that for old time's sake. "What Ace;...you jerk?"

Snickering softly at her calling me a jerk after so long, I finally allowed my cheeky grin that I hadn't used in over two years to appear onto my features before gently whispering to her with every bit of love that I held for her...the words we both had waited far too long to hear...

"I found you..."

**End.**

_Little Tsu: Yayyyy. I got another One Piece onefer up. I'm a fan of One Piece & I love this coupling too much. I know Pheonix is an OC of mine, but she & Ace jus' fit so well together, though I admit that she'd also fit well with Zolo...Which dependin' on how things go & all, I might make a few one-shots of Zolo & Pheonix together...Or them eventually endin' up together. Either way, hope ya enjoyed the fic & please reply. Reviews encourage me.x.x_


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